CONTROVERSY

119

CONTROVERSY: CINEMA AND POLITICS

Review: Fahrenheit 9/11

Controversial documentary-maker Michael Moore's intensely political new film, Fahrenheit 9/11, was screened for the world's media at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday.

A scene from Fahrenheit 9/11 Photo: The film shows soldiers in Moore's deprived hometown of Flint, Michigan

Disney has refused to release this film, other distributors also seem reluctant and - if Moore is to be believed - the White House wants to stop it being seen. The reason is if viewers take the film at face value, they will think George Bush is a fraudulent and possibly corrupt president who went to war in Iraq because of a half-baked motivation of grudge, greed and thirst for power. But this is a Michael Moore film and, while that does not mean he is wrong, it must be watched with a critical eye. Moore wants Bush removed from office. He is determined to have this film released before the US presidential election in November for that very reason.

Chilling: The film's conclusions are reached through a mixture of firm evidence, interesting information, moving scenes and tenuous theories. Starting with the presidential election in 2000, it firmly plants the idea that Bush's election - thanks to just 537 votes in Florida - was not exactly free and fair. The first conspiratorial link comes when he identifies the Fox News Channel employee who took the decision to report that Bush had won Florida on election night - when all other channels were reporting an Al Gore win - as Bush's first cousin. If true, it is an interesting piece of trivia - but hardly proof of a family plot to steal the presidency. He introduces 11 September with a blank screen and chilling audio of planes hitting the Twin Towers and the cries of those on the ground. Moore also has footage of Bush sitting in a school classroom, reading a children's book with pupils, for more than 10 minutes after being told the second plane had hit. The film-maker said this full footage had not been seen before because no-one had asked the teachers at the school whether they had captured it on camcorder. One of Moore's chief accusations is Bush allowed planes to pick up 24 members of the Bin Laden family and fly them out of the US in the days following the attacks - when all other aircraft were grounded. To back this up, he shows a document that seems to list them - and uses it as a base from which to explore the relationships between the Bush and Bin Laden dynasties.

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